Amelia Earhart Exhibit opens Oct. 12

SEATTLE — “In Search of Amelia Earhart,” a temporary exhibit honoring the life of the famous pilot, opens Oct. 12 at the Museum of Flight with the installation of a 1935 Lockheed Electra airliner, the same type as Amelia Earhart’s famous aircraft.

The Museum’s Electra is one of only two in existence, and the only one with the same modifications made to Earhart’s plane — and flown around the world in 1997 on the 60th anniversary of Earhart’s global flight attempt.

The aircraft will remain on permanent display.

“In Search of Amelia Earhart” will be on exhibit until April 28, 2014, and is free with admission to the museum.

The exhibit tells Earhart’s story through photographs, newspapers, newsreel footage and Earhart’s personal belongings, including her pilot’s helmet and goggles, and the only known surviving piece of the Lockheed Electra Earhart flew on her ill-fated flight around the world in 1937.

The Museum’s Electra was built for Northwest Airlines and began passenger service in 1935. It served in World War II and then went back to flying passengers for airlines in Brazil and the U.S. until it was restored to replicate Amelia Earhart’s Electra in 1996. In 1997 Linda Finch flew it around the world, reenacting Earhart’s ill-fated 1937 last flight. Today there is only one other Lockheed Model 10-E Electra in existence.